How many big game tags is too many?

[Hnthrdr]

In the age of the insta-hunter, you tube all stars, ect… it seems as western hunting has exploded in popularity we all try to get a piece of the pie. Everyone here loves to hunt! Just wondering what is reasonable and what is selfish? Or am I just super jelly that I am not a trust-a-farian who can live out of a sick camper and hunt big game 6 months out of the year? (Maybe)

I think it kind of started with the BRO guys but travel around some forums and folks are getting a wild amount of tags every year. Or do you get a bunch of tags and then turn some in/ don’t hunt some if you are successful early on?

Just wondering what a reasonable amount of tags is? I hate oversight as much as the next guy, but at what point should it be like you get one elk tag a year for the entire west or is it cool to have 5-6 elk tags?

 

[KHNC]

If i dont have them, then it should be limited for everyone else.

 

[The Guide]

I have a Buck tag, a Bull tag, a Bear tag, an Antelope tag, 3 doe tags, a turkey tag, and I might buy 2 more cow elk tags. Not my most in a year but my kids and wife have tags too.

Jay

 

[Hnthrdr]

If i dont have them, then it should be limited for everyone else.

Haha right? But if we are claiming to be conservationists. At some point is it getting out of control for a single man, or even a small family to put down 900-1200 lbs of meat in a year. Even if you are extreme carnivore you ain’t getting through that in years, not to mention any fowl or small game hunting to ensure your “content” keeps flowing year round. Heck even if you aren’t trying to monetize it at a point it just seems like waste and killing to kill, we lose the idea of “conservation”

 

[Hnthrdr]

I have a Buck tag, a Bull tag, a Bear tag, an Antelope tag, 3 doe tags, a turkey tag, and I might buy 2 more cow elk tags. Not my most in a year but my kids and wife have tags too.

Jay

How many kids do you have? Seems like a lot of tags, but with a big family probably not unreasonable. Not that you will fill all of them, but if you did what would you do with all the meat? Is some getting donated? Or do you go through 500-700lbs of meat in a year?

 

[roadrunner]

3 individually is too many. Many people incorrectly compare the principles of supply and demand to hunting tags.

SInce this is the argument used, there aren't enough "resources" to meet the requested number.

From a game and fish standpoint, a tag is the value of the tag regardless if one guy is paying for five or five individuals are paying for one each.

From a management standpoint, it may be foolsih to hope one sucky hunter is expected to fill each tag whereas 5 semi-okay hunters can fill each tag.

I like how with UT you can only have A limited entry tag or A once-in-a-lifetime tag. Not both and not mutliple of each.

 

[Randle]

Sportsmans Pack from Idaho is plenty of tags for my family
At some point it seems to be for likes and subs.

 

[Hnthrdr]

3 individually is too many. Many people incorrectly compare the principles of supply and demand to hunting tags.

SInce this is the argument used, there aren't enough "resources" to meet the requested number.

From a game and fish standpoint, a tag is the value of the tag regardless if one guy is paying for five or five individuals are paying for one each.

From a management standpoint, it may be foolsih to hope one sucky hunter is expected to fill each tag whereas 5 semi-okay hunters can fill each tag.

I like how with UT you can only have A limited entry tag or A once-in-a-lifetime tag. Not both and not mutliple of each.

I land somewhere along those lines, I try for a bull& buck tag every year, occasionally I will hunt pronghorn. I wish I could have a bear tag more often since I find quite a few fawn and calves eaten by them, but I rarely get those in the unit I want.

 

[5MilesBack]

I can only hunt elk in one place at a time, so it doesn't do me any good to have 5 elk tags in other areas. Archery season is only so long and most of those overlap the same dates in most western states. So I would say that elk tags in 2 states is about all I want to deal with in one season. If the rut (and September) lasted for 6 months, then I'd try to get as many tags as I could get, in as many states as I could, for that time period. I give away a lot of meat, and have no trouble finding more folks wanting it than I have available. You're right, we can't go through 900lbs of game meat in a year, but we'd give 900lbs of rib eyes or prime rib a run in a year if we had to.

 

[The Guide]

How many kids do you have? Seems like a lot of tags, but with a big family probably not unreasonable. Not that you will fill all of them, but if you did what would you do with all the meat? Is some getting donated? Or do you go through 500-700lbs of meat in a year?

4 kids (2 still at home) and provide meat for my mom and several other family members and friends. We buy ZERO ground beef. We cut elk into prime steaks, large cuts are turned into jerky, and the rest (usually 100#) is turned into burger. Deer are cut into prime steaks, large cuts for jerky, and the rest is used for sausage. For the family at home, we use 1 antelope and donate the rest of the antelope we harvest to 2 different families that prefer antelope to any other red meat. Once we have filled our freezer with the amount of each species we know we will eat, we start canning meat for years we aren't as lucky. Once we are sick of canning meat, we give to more friends in an open offering on Facebook. Once our friends have full freezers, we donate to local food banks, hunters for the hungry, and the Veterans Meat Locker. Getting premium protein is an issue for many of the less fortunate and older generations. I fish year round in fresh and saltwater. I love to eat my own food I've caught or shot.

Jay

 

[Hnthrdr]

I can only hunt elk in one place at a time, so it doesn't do me any good to have 5 elk tags in other areas. Archery season is only so long and most of those overlap the same dates in most western states. So I would say that elk tags in 2 states is about all I want to deal with in one season. If the rut (and September) lasted for 6 months, then I'd try to get as many tags as I could get, in as many states as I could, for that time period.

Fair enough, yeah just saw somewhere, guys having like 5 elk tags, spanning archery, multiple rifle seasons, cow and bull tags… seemed like maybe a lot for one dude. Or maybe I’m jealous that I can’t do that? I don’t think it’s jealousy I think it’s more concern for what we as western hunters are turning into as a whole. A I’m going to get mine screw everyone else mentality, if not outright than maybe subconsciously

 

[Haro450]

I try to plan for two good high success rate hunts a year. Which my family can easily finish off in a couple months. But with lottery draws that could escalate.
We eat a lot of meat at my house. So the elk, deer, pronghorn and caribou I shot last year was all gone before summer was over. I got lucky on drawing the pronghorn tag and was honestly hoping I wouldn't. The guys with big money to hunt a bunch of big game every year typically donate the meat.

 

[Hnthrdr]

4 kids (2 still at home) and provide meat for my mom and several other family members and friends. We buy ZERO ground beef. We cut elk into prime steaks, large cuts are turned into jerky, and the rest (usually 100#) is turned into burger. Deer are cut into prime steaks, large cuts for jerky, and the rest is used for sausage. For the family at home, we use 1 antelope and donate the rest of the antelope we harvest to 2 different families that prefer antelope to any other red meat. Once we have filled our freezer with the amount of each species we know we will eat, we start canning meat for years we aren't as lucky. Once we are sick of canning meat, we give to more friends in an open offering on Facebook. Once our friends have full freezers, we donate to local food banks, hunters for the hungry, and the Veterans Meat Locker. Getting premium protein is an issue for many of the less fortunate and older generations. I fish year round in fresh and saltwater. I love to eat my own food I've caught or shot.

Jay

For sure, I love to eat harvested game as well and sounds like you have it all figured out. Are you primarily hunting your home state or is this multiple western states?

 

[Yoder]

It's like asking if you can have too much cheese or bacon or sex.

 

[The Guide]

3 individually is too many. Many people incorrectly compare the principles of supply and demand to hunting tags.

SInce this is the argument used, there aren't enough "resources" to meet the requested number.

From a game and fish standpoint, a tag is the value of the tag regardless if one guy is paying for five or five individuals are paying for one each.

From a management standpoint, it may be foolsih to hope one sucky hunter is expected to fill each tag whereas 5 semi-okay hunters can fill each tag.

I like how with UT you can only have A limited entry tag or A once-in-a-lifetime tag. Not both and not mutliple of each.

I fill lots of tags every year. Any all it takes is going for a walk off the beaten path.

Picture is 3 does in a sled and me pulling them a mile out to the road. Tags are easy to fill if I'm hunting by myself. When I'm trying to get other people on game it slows the process down and opportunities get missed.

Jay

 

[The Guide]

For sure, I love to eat harvested game as well and sounds like you have it all figured out. Are you primarily hunting your home state or is this multiple western states?

All in my home state. I have a unique work schedule that allows me 2 weeks off/2 weeks on so I have lots of time to hunt and fish.

Jay

 

[Hnthrdr]

I try to plan for two good high success rate hunts a year. Which my family can easily finish off in a couple months. But with lottery draws that could escalate.
We eat a lot of meat at my house. So the elk, deer, pronghorn and caribou I shot last year was all gone before summer was over. I got lucky on drawing the pronghorn tag and was honestly hoping I wouldn't. The guys with big money to hunt a bunch of big game every year typically donate the meat.

Yep a big family could go through 60lbs of antelope or 80lbs of mule deer in a hurry, most elk I’ve killed seen killed yield 200-350lbs so it seems like those last a little longer. I personally take game meat into the firehouse I work at to keep food bills down, and we eat exclusively ground elk at home. Wife comes from a ranching family so she takes ribeyes over elk steaks, and I have a hard time arguing that so typically I’m eating the elk steaks solo. Just one little tot who isn’t putting too much food down yet… but it seems those of us who can hunt 2-20 big game tags a year are not the type to go hungry if the tag isn’t punched. Some of me worries that maybe those who really need the meat aren’t getting tags since individuals might gobble up so many or is it better if better hunters kill for them and give them the meat as a hand out?

 

[KHNC]

I live and hunt in NC/SC. My NC lifetime license gets me 4 buck tags , 2 doe tags, bear tag and 2 turkey tags a year. I dont fill all of them anymore. My SC license gets me 5 buck tags, 8 doe tags and 3 turkey tags. This year I also had a Wyoming Type 9 bull tag and I still have a reduced price cow tag and a Whitetail Buck tag for November when I go back out. I will probably kill at least 3 bucks and 4 does in SC and maybe 1 buck and 1 doe in NC. I use 6-7 deer per year easy and give my brother at least 2. Havent killed an elk, due to my own dumb chit, since 2019. I need to shoot a cow in Wyoming to get some elk meat! Then I will probably pass on more of the whitetail does.

 

[Hnthrdr]

It's like asking if you can have too much cheese or bacon or sex.

Sex and bacon are awesome till ya catch the clap or that plaque build up cuts loose somewhere I heard something about everything in moderation haha

 

[Doc Holliday]

I get 12 deer tags per year….no more than 2 can be bucks. I could kill 12 if I wanted to, but I average 1 deer per year. I try to have a western hunt lined up at least every other year, which is for 1 game animal.

Guys who are retired with deep pockets, sponsored influencer types, working blue or white collar guys, all have different situations. I don’t think there is a right or wrong # of tags. The scientists set the limits so if that guy wasn’t killing the bull someone else would be. As long as the meat is not wasted I don’t see an issue other than envy.